Quickly Now
by FLUFF-N-UTTER-1
Summary: Danny's travels... through the changing time line. Can he save Connor and Abby? Can he foil Helen's plots by himself? Who comes back with him? (starts 10.5, follows Danny through AU and timelines ranging from 0.3-109.5) A/N references previous story lines in Of Plots and Plans, Guarded, Twelfth of Never, and Silver Ann
1. Dolores

**Disclaimer: Primeval does not belong to me, this is fan fiction, not for profit.**

**Any references to people, places, businesses etc is entirely fictitious.**

10.5

_-x-x-x-x-x-x_

Danny's head was spinning, and not just with the last vestiges of the buzz from the champagne he had consumed so recently at his friends twenty-fifty wedding anniversary.

What Lester had just asked him to do was impossible, right?

But then, as Danny looked at the horrors of that devastated street right in front of him, he realized that somebody must have done exactly what James Lester had just asked him to do.

Somebody had changed the time line.

This present, darkness and death, would never lead to that happy anniversary party he had just attended.

Lester was speaking to him again Danny realized. Lester was saying something about his wife and her mission. Lester was still holding the woman's hand, it looked as if he wasn't ever going to let go. Danny could hear the sirens screaming in the distance. Fire, police, ambulance, they were all coming closer.

"You understand what I'm asking you to do?" asked Lester anxiously.

"Yeah," replied Danny. His hands were shaking as he held Connor's prototype up in front of him. He blinked to clear his eyes, trying to focus on the beveled glass screen in front of him as he pressed the number keypad.

The air shimmered, fractured and an anomaly opened. Danny stepped through. By the time the fire trucks, police cars, and ambulances arrived the anomaly had closed and Danny was gone.

_-x-x-x-x-x-x_

109.5

Danny strode through the anomaly and found himself in a library.

The polished hardwood floors and bookcases overflowing with books could have come from almost any era since the printing press had been invented he thought. The leather wingback chair narrowed down the time period somewhat more. But the girl with long blonde hair cascading over her shoulders seated in that chair, staring at the gadget in his hands, could only be from the future.

"Oooh," she breathed, her blue eyes lighting up in delight "where did you get the antique anomaly opening device from?"

_-x-x-x-x-x-x_

Danny was surprised that the girl, young woman he corrected himself as he stepped closer, recognized the device in his hands for what it was. Instead of answering her question, he asked her how she knew the gadget was an anomaly opening device. Her initial excitement at seeing the device Danny held had faded however, to be replaced by suspicion of Danny himself.

"You're in the Central Metropolitan University Science library," she replied narrowing her eyes in suspicion as she leaned towards him "and just who are you to be walking in here through an anomaly?"

Her pixie nose crinkled, she sniffed. "You smell… like smoke…" the suspicion in her eyes changed to concern. "Are you alright?" she asked.

Danny looked down at the blue sweater and jeans that he had worn at an anniversary party, and then to the site of an explosion. The black marks on his knee where he had knelt by Lester were a grim reminder of what he still needed to do.

He explained that he was a detective constable, searching for his friends, there had been an explosion. Everything he said was true, his story might not include all the details, but Danny told the young woman the most important one… he was worried for his friends. The young woman gave him a dazzling smile.

"Me mum's a history professor at the uni…" she pointed at a woman in the distance "I'm Dolores by the way… I'm working on a summer project… advanced studies program… studying the development of Temporal Science in the early part of the last century…"

Danny thought she looked a little young to be taking university level courses on anything, but he listened as she continued talking.

"Yeah, well my friend built this anomaly opener…," Danny finally interrupted "but it doesn't seem to be working right… every time I've tried to go some place I wind up in the wrong place… the wrong time, I mean."

"Hmm, sounds like the calibration is off on the timing mechanism," Dolores said snatching it out of his hand. "Let me see this… hmmm, this isn't right… this is different… not the standard set up at all... where did you get this?"

Danny watched as the young woman slipped the casing off Connor's prototype and started fiddling with the inner components. He just prayed that the beautiful blonde knew what she was doing. He didn't want to be stranded here in the future.

"A friend," Danny answered, "he built the anomaly opening device… that's his first prototype you're holding."

The young woman started to hand him back the device. As Danny reached his big hand around the gadget, she screeched.

"Watch what you're doing with that thing!" she exclaimed, "You've got your thumb pressed on the geographic locator… you don't want to be opening any more anomalies inside now…"

"What?"

Danny thought the glare she gave him would wither him right on the spot.

"You don't know what you're doing, do you?" she asked.

"Nope, this gadget didn't come with an operating manual," he said.

Dolores looked at Danny with a puzzled expression as she began to explain the controls to him… the time selection criteria, the geographic locator, the shield… you don't have a shield? How could you have an anomaly opening device without a shield?!

"Unshielded use of an anomaly opening device is just asking for trouble," she said reaching into her rucksack "anomalies like to open… they're created off of radio-magnetic energy fields… open one unshielded, and the next thing you know…" She paused for breath while attaching a small shiny sliver of metal to the back of Danny's device.

"You've attracted another… before long you've got two, three or more…" she continued explaining while she tightened down the shield.

"Well, we'll just lock them," said Danny impatiently.

"Right," Dolores snorted "as if…"

"What do you mean?" asked Danny.

"No one has ever figured out how to close, or lock as you call it, an anomaly," the young woman replied frostily. "Current scientific thought is that they can't be closed."

Danny looked at her in astonishment. He knew that Connor had created the anomaly locking mechanism years before anyone had ever thought of trying to open an anomaly.

Something was wrong here.

"You said the anomaly opening device that I've got," he began "is different from the standard set up…" He paused.

"Yeah," she said.

"Who created the standard model anomaly opening device?" Danny asked.

"Why Helen Cutter, of course."

_-x-x-x-x-x-x_

Danny thought he was going to be ill, and maybe some of that showed in the expression on his face. Dolores looked at him with concern.

"Are you alright?" she asked again.

"It's just… I know that name…"

"Well of course you do," chuckled Dolores "She's famous… the black widow of science… she married and murdered six husbands!"

_-x-x-x-x-x-x_


	2. The black widow of science…

**Disclaimer: Primeval does not belong to me, this is fan fiction, not for profit.**

**Any references to people, places, businesses etc is entirely fictitious.**

109.5

_The black widow of science…_

_-x-x-x-x-x-x_

"Helen Cutter married and murdered six husbands?" asked Danny in surprise. "That's not quite what I remember…"

Dolores rolled her eyes and pointed at a small bookcase. Six books, one for each husband, explained Dolores. Helen Cutter's diaries had left tantalizing clues to the nature of the anomalies, but no real research. No hard facts. Still, for those trying to understand anomalies, these six slim volumes were the first place to start.

Danny looked at the books… they told of Helen and her life with Nick Cutter, Stephen Hart, Philip Burton and three other men he had never heard of before.

"Dolores," he asked "why is she called Helen Cutter if she married all these other men?"

"She kept Cutter's name because Nicholas Cutter was the most famous and respected scientist in the field of evolutionary biology... his theories laid the foundation for the development of temporal science," Dolores replied "Researchers are still debating how many of the papers she published under her name were really the work of Professor Cutter…"

Danny was shaking his head in confusion while Dolores kept on talking. This must be some sort of alternate universe he thought. He remembered Matt talking about Connor's theories and the books Connor had written at his friend's anniversary party. He thought ruefully that he should have asked Matt more questions. Bloody hell, he should have asked Connor more questions!

"There are some scientists that think Philip Burton really invented the anomaly opening device," Dolores continued "about the only thing that is known for sure is that Helen Cutter knew how to open anomalies and could travel through them to whenever and wherever she wanted."

Danny looked at the young woman and gently reached his big hand out to take the anomaly opening device back. She looked startled.

"Oh, sorry," she said sheepishly as she looked down at her empty hands. "I meant to give it back, really."

With the device, Danny thought, he too knew how to open anomalies and could travel through them to whenever and wherever she wanted. Whatever Helen Cutter had done to make this reality, he was going to undo. But first, he needed some information.

What had Helen changed?

_-x-x-x-x-x-x_

The woman that Dolores had identified as her mother had come up behind him. She was now standing beside him as she spoke to her daughter.

"Dolores… please, quiet in the library," her mother chided.

"But Mum," protested the young woman "he came through an anomaly… and he's got an anomaly opening device… he didn't even know how to use it…"

The woman turned to stare at Danny. Her honey colored hair had the same waves as her daughter's blonde cascade, but the resemblance ended there. Dolores must take after her father thought Danny.

"We get a lot of time travelers here," said the older woman. "Research libraries are popular with your lot." She sniffed disdainfully.

Danny raised his eyebrows in surprise, time travelers seemed to be an ordinary occurrence in this day and age. "My lot?" he questioned carefully.

"Time travelers… opportunists, really… " the woman narrowed her eyes "you really ought to stay in your own time."

"Couldn't agree with you more there," said Danny "but the anomaly opening device malfunctioned… or maybe I pushed a wrong button…"

"Mum," interrupted Dolores "the timing calibration was off and he didn't even have an instruction manual." Danny noted that Dolores didn't mention the lack of a shield to her mother. Maybe that was a good thing, he thought as the young woman's mother continued to eye him suspiciously.

"I just want to go back to my time, where my friends are," said Danny.

The older woman's face softened for a brief moment. "Well then," she said "I suppose you want to look up the when you came from…"

_-x-x-x-x-x-x_

The woman got Danny set up at one of the library carrels, opened a tray to reveal a keyboard and a view screen appeared in thin air right before Danny's eyes.

"Type in your search criteria," she directed "I'll leave you to it now."

_-x-x-x-x-x-x_

Danny remembered the reports he had read when he first joined the ARC's team. He had been very thorough, even to the point of asking the surviving team members questions when he didn't understand something in the official report. Danny remembered wanting to ask Cutter about his last reports, but as the man was already dead Danny couldn't ask him anything. One thing Danny remembered quite vividly though was Cutter's account of Stephen's demise. The aching pain of Cutter's loss of his friend had been evident in every word of the report.

So now, Danny figured the first thing he would search for in this library carrel would be the ARC's reports, specifically Nick Cutter and Stephen Hart's reports. What had happened then Danny wondered. How had Helen changed the world to create this future?

_-x-x-x-x-x-x_

The first thing Danny found out was that there had never been an ARC.

The second thing Danny found out was that Helen and Nick Cutter had gone to the Forest of Dean together. They had been following a lead on a creature sighting. Somehow, according to Helen, they had been separated. Nick Cutter had never been heard from again. Years later, Helen had Nick Cutter declared dead. She married her laboratory assistant Stephen Hart later that same day. In less than six months, Helen's second husband had been killed by some sort of venomous insect bite.

The third thing that Danny learned was that, as Dolores had said, Helen's third husband was widely thought to be the inventor behind the standard anomaly opening device. But Helen's name was on the patent, and she aimed to make a profit… anyone with enough cash could buy an anomaly opening device.

Danny shut the keyboard tray. It slid down into the desk top with barely as whisper. He stood up and started to slide back the casing on Connor's prototype. He only hoped it would work.

"Hey," hissed the young woman from the nearby table. Danny looked at her in puzzlement.

"Not in here," Dolores whispered with a nod in the direction of her mother, "she'll get upset."

"Right," said Danny as he turned towards the door.

"Come back some time," Dolores called.

_-x-x-x-x-x-x_

Outside, Danny slid the metallic casing back, he looked at the beveled glass and number casing. Careful to adjust both the geographic and the temporal settings, Danny activated the anomaly opening device.

The air shimmered, fractured and an anomaly opened. Danny took a deep breath and prayed that this time, the anomaly would lead to when and where he really needed to go. He stepped through.

_-x-x-x-x-x-x_

_0.6_

It had been deceptively easy thought Danny with a grin. A broken window to Nick Cutter's research lab, a phone call, and the professor was busy filling out reports for a constable while his wife left in a huff to go to the Forest of Dean by herself.

Danny adjusted the setting and activated the anomaly opening device. Now was a good time to meet Lester at that restaurant, Danny thought. But he wanted to get there early, do a little reconnoitering. A good copper always checks out the terrain.

_-x-x-x-x-x-x_

6.2

"It's not here," sniffed the host "we have no reservation for anyone named James Lester with or without his wife and guests."

Danny stared at the man in frustration. Danny had been sure he remembered the restaurant name, the date and time that Lester had told him.

Well, best go back and ask him again, thought Danny as he adjusted the settings on the anomaly opening device again.

_-x-x-x-x-x-x_

10.5

Danny stepped out of the anomaly onto a residential London street. There were no signs of an explosion, no bodies in the streets, the houses were intact.

For a moment, Danny thought maybe he'd done it. Set the world back to rights… somehow. But then, he thought… when was anything ever that easy?"

Danny looked at the nameplate above the mailbox before he knocked on the door. It was smeared, illegible. Well, he'd soon know who lived in this house.

The man that opened the door was a big, sleepy man who had never heard of Abby and Connor Temple.

"Go on home now," advised the man in an annoyed tone "quit waking up people in the middle of the night."

Danny couldn't go home. This wasn't his time line. He didn't have a home here, and his friends weren't here for him to crash on their couch. There was only one place to go he thought as he adjusted the settings on the anomaly opening device again… back to the library.

_-x-x-x-x-x-x_


	3. Liam

**Disclaimer: Primeval does not belong to me, this is fan fiction, not for profit.**

**Any references to people, places, businesses etc is entirely fictitious.**

109.5

_Back to the library…_

_-x-x-x-x-x-x_

Danny had carefully adjusted the geographic settings on the anomaly opening device, but when he stepped through the anomaly onto the grounds of the library he found himself on a paved walkway instead of the grassy lawn he had departed from earlier.

In fact, Danny thought as he looked around, the building itself looked different. Crisp straight edged concrete construction with metallic window frames and reflective glass gave the library a distinctly modern edge. He would have sworn the library was an old fashioned brick structure.

Danny shook his head, he must be more tired than he realized. But right now, what type of building the library was didn't matter. What mattered was the information it contained. He stepped towards the doorway, it swished open with an pneumatic hiss.

Inside the library, the polished hardwood floor had been replaced by gray slate. The overflowing wooden bookcases were replaced by metal shelving that seemed to hold far fewer books. The wingback chairs were gone, in their stead were black and chrome seats that looked decidedly uncomfortable.

Danny looked around. He was hoping to see Dolores or her mother, but the library appeared empty… or almost empty. Behind the reception desk Danny could see a young man with brown hair flopping into his eyes. He was nervously bouncing from one foot to the other as he leaned over the desk while doodling on a notepad. Got to start somewhere thought Danny as he approached.

"Hey," Danny greeted the young man "Do you know where I can find Dolores," he asked "or her mother?"

"Who?"

_-x-x-x-x-x-x_

Danny explained. He was looking for his friends. Dolores and her mother had helped him with the computer research the last time he was here.

"Well I can help you with the computer," exclaimed the young man eagerly. "Here… come on now… over here."

The young man was babbling, explaining the computer as he got Danny seated into a carrel. He showed Danny more ways to adjust search criteria than Danny even knew existed.

The first thing Danny found out was that the ARC had existed, just not the ARC that Danny knew.

The second thing Danny found was that the ARC had been run by Christine Johnson from the start. Total military control, total security, and no civilians involved. There had been rumors of creatures, bright lights and possibly more. But national security had squashed the rumors. There had been a cover up. No scientific breakthroughs, no inventions, nothing. The cover up had been complete.

The third thing Danny found was James Lester. The man had gone from uni to MI5. Danny remembered, Lester was described as a trouble shooter without portfolio. But in Danny's time Lester had worked for the minister, assigned to the home office. This James Lester had worked for the foreign office. And this Lester had gone to Afghanistan… a secret mission… he and his security detail, led by a Captain Hilary Becker, had been betrayed, captured and executed.

Danny was rubbing his eyes as he finished reading this file. This didn't look like something Helen had changed, but it wasn't right. He knew he had to fix this.

"Liam," a woman hissed as she strode towards Danny and the young man. "What are you doing?"

The young man, Liam obviously, jumped. "Nothing Mum," he said "just helping the man with his search…"

"But you can't hack into secure military servers Liam," exclaimed the woman.

"Sure I can," replied Liam with a grin. The grin faded as the woman frowned at him. "Oh," he realized "you mean I'm not supposed to…"

Danny recognized the woman. The honey colored hair was pulled back tightly, and the gray suit gave her a sterner air than the floral dress she had worn earlier, but this was Dolores' mother. Trying to deflect her attention from Liam, Danny greeted her and asked after her daughter.

The woman looked confused.

"I don't have a daughter," she said. "Liam's my only child."

_-x-x-x-x-x-x_

Danny left the library and adjusted his anomaly opening device. He was tired after his long day… or was it days now he wondered. Before he could do anything more, he needed to eat, sleep and do some more research. And Danny knew exactly where he needed to go.

The air shimmered, fractured and an anomaly opened.

_-x-x-x-x-x-x_

0.3

Danny stepped through to a London street on a bright and beautiful morning. He watched his younger self lock the front door to his long ago flat and saunter off to work. As his younger self turned the corner, Danny tiredly stepped out of the alley shadows and climbed the steps to his flat. The spare key was still under Mrs. Finchley's geranium. Danny opened the door and returned home. He flopped down on his bed… the world would have to wait for a little while, he needed to sleep.

_-x-x-x-x-x-x_

Mrs. Finchley's two o'clock telly program woke Danny up. He stretched his long legs and decided that food, a shower and clean clothes were the next order of business. A half hour later, the frozen pot pie he had thrown in the oven was starting to smell good, it would be ready soon. A hot shower and his own clothes had gone a long way to making him feel more comfortable. And he had called Freddie down in records. The man had owed him a favor, it wasn't hard to find the information Danny needed.

James Lester was going to miss a meeting today. His car was being towed… one too many parking tickets. Shame really thought Danny.

He would have loved to have seen Lester's face when he saw his car was gone.

_-x-x-x-x-x-x_

Danny hurried across town, heading towards an upscale residential neighborhood. He could see his brother and two other boys turning the corner on the street ahead of him. Danny started to rush forward, but car horns screamed. A hand grabbed his jacket collar, jerking Danny back to the safety of the sidewalk as the car whizzed by in front of him.

"You should watch where you're going," said the blond haired man with a Scottish accent. "I might not be here the next time you try to step out in front of traffic."

"Thanks," Danny gasped, then he hurried after his brother, without even getting the name of his rescuer.

By the time Danny reached the elegant Tudor style home, it was too late. One boy was running in a panic from the house. Patrick and the other boy had already gone through the anomaly. Danny couldn't set the coordinates on the anomaly opening device he had to find his brother. Danny didn't know where or when Patrick had gone.

Danny set his jaw determinedly. He hadn't rescued Patrick, this time. He would try again. But right now, Danny needed to finish the job Lester had asked him to do. He had stopped a military take over of the ARC, and now he was going to stop an explosion, and for that… he needed the Temple-Maitland case files.

_-x-x-x-x-x-x_

6.2

"It's not here," sniffed the host "just like I told you an hour ago, we have no reservation for anyone named James Lester with or without his wife and guests."

Danny stared at the man in surprise. The man remembered Danny from his last visit. This time, hadn't changed. Danny had thought ensuring James Lester remained in London would straighten the time line out. But here Danny was at the restaurant, the date and time that Lester had told him, and there was still no sign of James Lester.

_-x-x-x-x-x-x_

10.5

A quick check of another residential London street showed no signs of disaster, and no signs of Connor and Abby either.

There was only one place to go Danny thought as he adjusted the settings on the anomaly opening device again… back to the library.

_-x-x-x-x-x-x_


	4. Nobody

**Disclaimer: Primeval does not belong to me, this is fan fiction, not for profit.**

**Any references to people, places, businesses etc is entirely fictitious.**

109.5

_Back to the library…_

_-x-x-x-x-x-x_

Danny stepped through the anomaly onto the grounds of the library, but what a changed library. He stared in amazement. The courtyard where he now stood had neither grass nor pavement. The land was dry and barren, dusty even. The sky was overcast and seemed to have an unnatural yellowish tint.

He might have stayed staring a while longer if the sound of a heavy metal door opening hadn't caused him to turn and look at the building. A woman was standing there in the open doorway, beckoning to him.

"Are you trying to get yourself killed?" she asked "Hurry up and get inside.

Behind him, Danny heard the distant sound of claws scratching pavement and a chittering vocalization that raised goose bumps on his skin. He ran.

_-x-x-x-x-x-x_

Together, Danny and the woman slammed the door shut and slid the metal bar locking it into place. He looked at her and realized, this was the same woman from his previous visits to the future. Her honey colored hair was cut short in this time line and she was wearing a dark camouflage one piece outfit, but this was the woman who had once been mother to Delores and once been mother to Liam.

"What happened," Danny asked. And as his words echoed in the empty entry way, he added "Where is everybody?"

"What happened is that you almost got yourself killed," the woman replied icily. "You should know better… to be outside… with no weaponry…"

Danny leaned back against the wall.

"But where's Dolores?" he asked "and Liam?"

"Don't have time for silly questions," the woman ignored his question, pointing to another doorway she said "hurry."

_-x-x-x-x-x-x_

Danny followed the woman as she led him down a flight of stairs to the cellar. There, in what had perhaps once been a storage room was a shelter of sorts. Four cots, a camp stove, cooking paraphernalia and a door to a tiny lavatory.

"You're lucky," the woman said tersely as she heated beans "if I hadn't been up there watching for Robert and Charlotte, I wouldn't have seen you… wouldn't have been able to let you inside."

As Danny looked at her with a puzzled expression, she went on. "They left… a week ago… going for supplies… they should have been back by now."

She handed Danny a bowl of bean soup and a spoon. He eagerly began eating. In between bites, Danny thanked her for letting him in the library.

The woman looked up in surprise at his words.

"Library," she laughed bitterly "it's been twenty or more years since anyone called this a library… but yeah, it was a library once."

Danny swallowed his soup and repeated his earlier question, "Where is everybody?"

"There is nobody else."

Danny stuttered, "But… they were just here… Dolores or Liam… your child..."

"I don't have a child," the woman said "wouldn't want to bring a child into this world." She shuddered.

At Danny's continued questions, the woman sighed.

"Tomorrow," she said. Pointing at one of the cots, she added "You can have Simon's bed, he won't need it any more."

The cot might not have been a comfortable bed, but Danny was exhausted and he fell asleep wondering who Simon was, and why Simon didn't need a bed anymore.

_-x-x-x-x-x-x_

Morning came all too soon. The woman was shaking Danny impatiently.

"Wake up," she hissed "come on now."

"What?" asked Danny as he moved to stand "Where are we going?"

"Back upstairs," replied the woman "I've got to watch for Robert and Charlotte."

"Your friends," said Danny as he followed her up the stairs to the main library floor. He watched as she took a stance at the door, peeking out the eyehole, watching the front courtyard.

"Yeah," she said, not even turning to look towards him.

"Well," said Danny as he moved further into the ruins of the library "I need to look for my friends too."

_-x-x-x-x-x-x_

The dusty library carrels had no power. And if there was a computer hooked up to these carrels, Danny couldn't find it or turn it on. He swore softly under his breath, and moved further into the desolate canyons of tilted bookcases. Books thrown from their shelves, pages torn from bindings and scattered across the floor were underneath every step Danny took.

Against the back wall, Danny found a small bookcase, reminiscent of the one Dolores had shown him in some other when. This bookcase held a few precious books intact. One of the books was embossed with a familiar logo. Danny pulled this one out and started to read.

_-x-x-x-x-x-x_

The first thing Danny found out was that the ARC had existed, just not the ARC that Danny knew. Connor Temple was missing.

Danny didn't get a chance to read any further. The woman standing guard at the door called out excitedly, "They're here."

He headed back towards the front of the library at her call. Just as Danny cleared the last to the tilted bookcases, he saw the woman pull the front door open. She screamed. A creature appeared in front of the doorway, reaching its talons into the library, pulling her outside. Beyond her Danny could see two people frantically rushing towards her, and more of the creatures rushing towards them. The human beings were torn to pieces before Danny could do anything. He dropped the book that he had been carrying.

At the slender volume hit the floor with a muffled thump, the nearest creature looked up, looking inside the library. It was looking at Danny.

Danny didn't think, he just reacted and pushed a button on the anomaly opening device. He leaped through the shimmering opening and turned quickly to shut the anomaly. It winked to a close. A long spindly arm ending in three sharp talons fell to the alley way in front of him.

_-x-x-x-x-x-x_

1.1

Danny looked at his surroundings, he was back in a familiar street in London. He looked at the device in his hand. The geographic locator hadn't moved when had pushed those buttons, but the time selection criteria told a different story. Danny was back in front of the flat that would someday be where Abby and Connor lived.

But today was at least six years too early to hope to see them here. So Danny picked up the creatures arm and chucked it into the first open bin he saw as he strode off down the street.

He had to find the ARC. Danny had to find Connor Temple.

_-x-x-x-x-x-x_

After his earlier self left to go to work, Danny climbed the steps to his flat. The spare key was still under Mrs. Finchley's geranium. He let himself in to his flat and called his old friend Freddie.

"I need a favor," Danny said "I need to find a young man named Connor Temple, he's a student at Central Metropolitan University.

Freddie called back in less than twenty minutes. There was no such person attending Central Metropolitan University.

Danny ran a hand through his red hair, trying to think, while Freddie kept talking.

"You sure you have the right school?" asked Freddie.

Brilliant, thought Danny. That was the problem… Connor must have gone to a different school.

"Well search the other universities," said Danny.

"Do you have any idea how many Connor Temples there are in the UK?" asked Freddie dryly.

No, Danny had no idea, but surely there couldn't be that many.

"Four hundred and twelve Connor Temples registered in universities across the UK," said Freddie "and a whole lot more if you want the ones not in universities."

"He was from Bradford," said Danny remembering a conversation long ago when he had arrested the young man "birth date in October… I don't remember the year, but he would be twenty-five… maybe twenty-six now…"

Freddie grumbled about the search, but he said he'd get right on it. He called Danny back in ten minutes. There was only one Connor Temple from Bradford, he would have been the right age, but he had been killed by a reckless driver twelve years earlier.

"Can you print out the report, pictures, everything?" asked Danny. "I'll be over to pick it up, in an hour."

_-x-x-x-x-x-x_

Danny made it from his flat to the police records department in record time.

"Jeez Danny," said Freddie "what happened to you? You're getting more wrinkles every time I see you."

"Well," Danny joked "you caught me without my beauty sleep." He held out his big hand.

"The file Freddie."

Danny opened the file Freddie had assembled and started reading… a biking tour in the highlands, a white panel van, a reckless driver. There had been an accident. The tour guide had been killed instantly. Two of the riders, father and son, had died in the ambulance on the way to the hospital.

The local constables had been thorough. They had interviewed all the other bikers and had located the rental agency where the van had been rented. They even had pictures of the woman who rented the van. Danny thought it was a good likeness of Helen Cutter. But the woman had disappeared, never been caught.

Danny looked up from his reading. "I'll just take this with me Freddie," he said "oh, and Freddie… if anyone ever asks you about this… even if I ask you about this file… you don't know anything… this never happened."

"Sure Danny."

_-x-x-x-x-x-x_

0.5

Danny couldn't remember Connor ever talking much about his early years. Danny remembered all the ARCs mission reports, but he had never had a real need to review the personal files, so he didn't know anything about Connor's childhood. Danny remembered hearing Connor mention Christmas at his Gran's home once, but Danny had never heard the young man say anything about his father.

Over an early morning breakfast, Danny had tried to dissuade Connor's father from going on the biking tour. The roads were dangerous, Danny told him, but the man had merely grinned and said they would be on trails, not on the road.

Danny had even thought about trying to lock Connor and his father in the gent's loo, but his plan had failed. Danny had been locked in and by the time he got out, the biking tour had left.

Now, all Danny could do was wait. He was standing on the porch facing the road, when a woman and a young girl came out. They were laughing together and talking about the climb they had been on. From the dark brown hair and eyes, Danny guessed they were Connor's mother and sister. He turned to them, hoping to say something to get them back inside. They didn't need to see this.

The girl raised her hand and pointed excitedly. "Look," she said "they're coming up the hill…"

_-x-x-x-x-x-x_

Danny was off the porch in a single bound and his long legs running quickly towards the accident. In the distance he could see Helen climb out of the van. She took one brief look at the devastation and then turned to run towards the woods.

When he reached the scene, Danny skidded to a halt. He looked at the carnage, not knowing what to do or where to start. Connor's father was struggling to move towards his son. Pointing at the boy, he told Danny "Help him, help him… please."

Danny knelt and started tying a tourniquet around Connor's leg. Ambulances were very slow to arrive that day.

_-x-x-x-x-x-x_

6.2

"We have no reservation for anyone named James Lester with or without his wife and guests," sniffed the host "just like I told you the last time you were here."

Nothing had changed this time thought Danny. There was one more time and place to check, and if nothing had changed there as well, he would go back to the library.

_-x-x-x-x-x-x_


	5. Vivian

**Disclaimer: Primeval does not belong to me, this is fan fiction, not for profit.**

**Any references to people, places, businesses etc is entirely fictitious.**

109.5

_Back to the library…_

_-x-x-x-x-x-x_

The first thing Danny noticed when he stepped through the anomaly was the grass. He was standing on lush green grass, not a barren broken patch of earth and not pavement. The sun was shining, the sky was blue, and the scent of roses came from the trellis near the door to the library.

All around Danny there were people moving. Students were carrying books, walking between the buildings. In the distance, a boy could be seen chasing after an older adult calling "Professor… Professor." Danny had never seen the library like this before. He climbed up three broad stone steps and pushed the door open.

In the library, the polished wooden floor reminded Danny of his first visit to this time and place, but the neatly stacked bookcases and students crowding study carrels were different. The wingback chairs were the same he realized. And in the chair closest to him, a girl with long brown hair cascading over her shoulders looked up at his entrance. She stared at the gadget in his hands in recognition.

"Oooh," she breathed, her dark brown eyes lighting up in delight, dimples showing as a grin spread across her face "where did you get the antique anomaly opening device from?"

_-x-x-x-x-x-x_

"Dolores?" asked Danny.

"Who?" asked the young girl, woman really Danny realized as she stood up. She was tall for a woman, at least five foot eight inches without her heels. The elegant young woman smoothed down her classic black sheath dress and spun on her stilettos.

"Come on," she called "Mum said to bring the man with the antique anomaly opening device back to her office when he showed up… by the way, my name's Vivian."

_-x-x-x-x-x-x_

Danny followed after the young woman.

"Who's your Mum?" he asked as Vivian led him into an office, but then he saw her. The woman with the honey colored hair. She had been here, in every variation of this future, every time Danny had come to the library. Some people just don't change.

This time, the woman looked up at him in recognition. "What took you so long?"

_-x-x-x-x-x-x_

"What do you mean," asked Danny in confusion. "You've been waiting for me?"

"Of course," replied the woman "I'm a historian. I've been waiting for you for nearly twenty years… ever since I read my daughters name in a history book."

_-x-x-x-x-x-x_

Danny listened as the woman explained, he needed to take Vivian back in time with him. There were some things she had to do.

"No, no," said Danny shaking his head for emphasis "I won't take her back, she belongs here… in her own time. Whatever it is she needs to do, just tell me, I'll fix it."

"You can't do everything on your own," said Vivian's mother softly "everybody needs a friend."

_-x-x-x-x-x-x_

Vivian was shoving files into a messenger bag. Identification documents, she was going to be a student in the twentieth century. Her mother handed her three more files.

"You've got at least three things to do," her mother reminded her "sit at a bus stop and hold on, shoot a triceratops, and stop an explosion."

Vivian's mother looked at Danny with an expression of concern. "Stopping the explosion is going to be the hard one… the time line keeps fluctuating… all the known data is in the files, but it changes… paradox theory you know."

"No," said Danny in frustration "I don't know what you're talking about. What do you mean paradox theory. "

The woman looked at Danny in amazement. "Surely you've read the books on temporal science," she exclaimed.

"What books?"

Vivian's mother rolled her eyes, and started handing him books from her shelves. "Paradox and Beyond, Infinite Universes," she paused looking at two additional books. Putting one book back on the shelf, she handed him the other "Practical Temporal Theory, 4th edition… don't mark it up now."

The woman gazed at Danny for a moment.

"You need to read these," the woman told Danny "quickly now."

_-x-x-x-x-x-x_

Vivian's messenger bag and Danny's rucksack were packed. It was time to go.

"Remember, it's your time now," said Vivian's mother to her daughter "love, laugh, live your life…"

"Yeah Mum," Vivian replied. The tall slender brunette reached over to take the anomaly opening device out of Danny's hand. She made some adjustments, the air shimmered, fractured and an anomaly opened.

"Love you Mum," said Vivian as she turned and pulled Danny through the anomaly with her.

_-x-x-x-x-x-x_

0.4

Danny pulled his jacket collar up. It was starting to rain and he was standing in front of a bus stop with this young woman from the future.

"What are we doing here," he asked.

"You're leaving," she said as she handed back the anomaly opening device. "I'm going to sit and wait."

Vivian sat down on the bench and looked down the street. A woman pushing a pram, a little girl holding on to the side, and a man Danny recognized were coming towards them.

Danny remembered. His first day on the job, he was a rookie patrolman, there had been a horrible accident. The man he had yelled at that day was a young Philip Burton he now realized.

"Go on now," said Vivian.

"But," Danny said "we've go to stop this…"

"Danny," said Vivian sadly "we can't save everybody."

As she watched Danny disappear through the anomaly, Vivian reached into her messenger bag to squeeze the anomaly opening device she had inside. Her mother had given it to her, just in case, but she knew she really shouldn't use it. Practical Temporal Theory, she thought, the first theorem if you go back in time, something will change. And Vivian was here to help change the world.

The little girl sat on the bench opposite her, swinging her legs. The little girl's mother had told her to watch her brother, while she moved towards the man now crossing the street.

Vivian smiled at the little blue eyed girl, her own brown eyes warm and friendly, a small dimple showing in her cheek.

"Abby," said Vivian "is that short for Abigail?"

_-x-x-x-x-x-x_

6.2

"Yes, we have a reservation for Mr. and Mrs. James Lester and guests," sniffed the host.

Danny grinned. "Be sure to add one more," he told the snooty restaurateur.

And later that evening, Danny ordered the most expensive meal on the menu, then left without eating it, but he had the Temple-Maitland case file in his hands, all fourteen versions. And if Vivian hadn't recognized him, or was merely very good at playing her role, he didn't know.

The important thing was he knew he had someone to help him when needed, a friend he could count on. He also had some reading to do.

_-x-x-x-x-x-x_

10.5

And when Danny showed up on a street in London, he knew that an explosion was not going to happen.

He couldn't prove the expected explosion was due to something Helen was doing, and his friends would surely think he was paranoid if he said it was her plotting again. Danny didn't know why the gas line was turned so high that night, or why Connor's Mum forgot the kettle, or why the pilot light chose that night to quit working.

Danny was just glad that he had friends to help. Becker was there to keep Connor and Abby away from the home. Vivian and Matt were there to keep a team guarding the home. Danny was going to turn off a stove, and Jess was there to turn the gas off for a whole city block.

Lester was right, the future needed to be saved every day.

_-x-x-x-x-x-x_

31.5

For twenty years, Danny travelled back and forth through time lines.

He had tried to save Patrick a few more times, but when the blond haired man with a Scottish accent stopped him from getting run over for the third time, Danny realized he couldn't save Patrick.

Danny checked on his friends, he read the reports at the ARC and fixed what he could. Finally, he returned back to an anniversary party.

And when Connor asked him if he'd been mucking about in time, Danny wasn't sure how to answer him. Was it mucking about in time? Or destiny? Or something else?

_-x-x-x-x-x-x_

35.5

When Danny and the rest of their friends helped Abby with packing the London flat up, he found the second anomaly opening device.

Until that moment, when he held the second device in his hands, he hadn't really thought about Connor's prototype. But he should have known there were two of them… after all, he, Connor and Abby had used the second one once to follow Helen.

That horrible future no longer existed, but Danny knew the device in his hands still had a use.

"Abby," he asked "which box should this go in?"

She looked at the anomaly opening device in his hands.

"That goes in Tommy's box," she replied distractedly "he wanted something his father had made."

"Right," said Danny with a smile. He had some files and the annotated copy of a book that he was going to add to that box. Someday a historian with honey colored hair was going to open the box and need the information.

_-x-x-x-x-x-x_

The time stream wobbled, and settled. Life, love and laughter went on.


End file.
